RT-N66U firmware 3.0.0.4.374.720 released

[NightOwl326]

It is my hope the Merlin will still offer new builds based on the most current versions released by Asus while still incorporating older drivers for us that cannot afford the reduced signal strength of the latest Broadcom driver for the RT-N66U.......PLEASE! (Love your .33 Beta) I know it is additional work to incorporate older drivers in new firmware, but keep in mind you are a blessing to us here on this forum and your work is more than appreciated. You alone have made the purchase of an Asus router a very satisfying experience. In other words...HERO!

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I have been trying this firmware and i can confirm the 2.4 ghz signal is awfull way down in this new updated firmware. That wont cut it for me so im back to Melins firmware. I suspect they did indeed drop the radio power in this version.

Also wanted to add that that changing the power level in the router via the ui makes no difference at all. I set it from 10 to 200 it made no change in output what so ever.

 

[SN_]

Meanwhile i made some test with Merlin's Pixie Dust FW. Same results as with 374.720 regarding tx power for 2.4GHz and broken power adjustment via Web ui.

Now i am sure this is a problem with SDK6 and not intended by Asus.

@Merlin, can we assume that the SDK6 API is broken or has changed? Do you have access to the API documentation?

 

[RMerlin]

Meanwhile i made some test with Merlin's Pixie Dust FW. Same results as with 374.720 regarding tx power for 2.4GHz and broken power adjustment via Web ui.

Now i am sure this is a problem with SDK6 and not intended by Asus.

@Merlin, can we assume that the SDK6 API is broken or has changed? Do you have access to the API documentation?

I don't have access to the (expensive, and highly technical) Broadcom SDK documentation.

 

[RMerlin]

To the folks reporting much worse 2.4 GHz signal, have you tested with an actual file transfer to measure the real throughput?

 

[Deleted member 22229]

To the folks reporting much worse 2.4 GHz signal, have you tested with an actual file transfer to measure the real throughput?

My tests were simple I used wifi analyzer on my android galaxy tablet and checked in the exact same spot with both your firmware and asus new firmware and it was clearly much lower also even before I checked via wifi analyzer as soon as I checked connected computers and roku boxes the signal level was lower for all devices. I will add it did not seem to affect the speed of the 2.4 G band.

 

[lzaninon]

throughput tested

To the folks reporting much worse 2.4 GHz signal, have you tested with an actual file transfer to measure the real throughput?

2.4 speed much worse:
same room 20 mhz: was 97 mbit/s (with 3.0.0.4.374_257), now 80
in bedroom (two rooms away) was 30, now 16

however, 5ghz has improved a lot

 

[SN_]

To the folks reporting much worse 2.4 GHz signal, have you tested with an actual file transfer to measure the real throughput?

No, at 2.4 GHz i have only slow G clients.
But with 374.720 my eBook reader had problems. It got 2 times disconnected during a download. Signal strength was 2 out 3 bars so i wondered why it had problems. Never had any problems with that device before... and after kicking out 374.720 never had such a problem again (signal strength back to 3 out of 3). Maybe just a strange coincidence... who knows.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

No, at 2.4 GHz i have only slow G clients.
But with 374.720 my eBook reader had problems. It got 2 times disconnected during a download. Signal strength was 2 out 3 bars so i wondered why it had problems. Never had any problems with that device before... and after kicking out 374.720 never had such a problem again (signal strength back to 3 out of 3). Maybe just a strange coincidence... who knows.

No there is a real problem with this firmware the 2.4 G band sucks bottom line. I really believe this is related to the pending legal action from Netgear and they have lowered the transmit power and taken away the ability to adjust it as well. Asus will never tell the public this and if even Merlin knows (Not saying he does) he cant talk about it. Folks save your older versions of firmware you just might need it.

 

[Poseidon]

No there is a real problem with this firmware the 2.4 G band sucks bottom line. I really believe this is related to the pending legal action from Netgear and they have lowered the transmit power and taken away the ability to adjust it as well. Asus will never tell the public this and if even Merlin knows (Not saying he does) he cant talk about it. Folks save your older versions of firmware you just might need it.

'

Any "older" firmware version(s) to save in particular?

 

[RogerSC]

'

Any "older" firmware version(s) to save in particular?

Disk is cheap these days. I save the versions that have worked the best for me (mostly RMerlin's, since the wireless driver that he's been keeping has been working well for me). You can always get rid of stuff, but they might be very difficult to find again...

 

[jlake]

I reinstalled this firmware and everything seems to be fine now. Wireless file copy speed is identical to .276. 2.4 ghz seems about the same and 5hz is only very very slightly weaker. 5 ghz link speed actually averages even higher than .276

The only changes I made different than initial test was to use channel 153 instead of 149. Probably just a fluke or user error. I did notice that router position seems critical with this firmware. I'm not a radio expert, but I tinkered with moving the router a few centimeters in all different directions and it really makes a difference.

So if you're having signal strength problems with this firmware, try using inSSIDer and play around with router position/location. I'm not talking about moving the antennas, but very slightly adjusting the location of the router.

So at a brief second glance, this firmware seems pretty good. To early to say for sure.

 

[ursus]

stability?

How do you see stability of this firmware in regarding to samba shares and usbdrives usage?

I've found that this firmware doesn't like extensive LAN Speed Test testing of Samba performance...
I've managed to get this router twice to the state that it's working, but... I cannot get in through samba/ftp and web UI.

Anyone else noticed that?

 

[PrivateJoker]

I reinstalled this firmware and everything seems to be fine now. Wireless file copy speed is identical to .276. 2.4 ghz seems about the same and 5hz is only very very slightly weaker. 5 ghz link speed actually averages even higher than .276

The only changes I made different than initial test was to use channel 153 instead of 149. Probably just a fluke or user error. I did notice that router position seems critical with this firmware. I'm not a radio expert, but I tinkered with moving the router a few centimeters in all different directions and it really makes a difference.

So if you're having signal strength problems with this firmware, try using inSSIDer and play around with router position/location. I'm not talking about moving the antennas, but very slightly adjusting the location of the router.

So at a brief second glance, this firmware seems pretty good. To early to say for sure.

If anyone wants to copy my own spreadsheet to test your own speeds and throughput at various locations, feel free to. Also feel free to PM me your email and I can put you on as collaborator if you have ideas (on a new sheet) to clean it up or make it more useful.

http://bit.ly/PrivateJokerWifi

*side note, I am still on 3.0.0.4.374.32-MW. I'm not trying to show you my results vs your results here, I'm just showing you the format of variables I log.

 

[u111000111]

AirPlay fixed using Media Bridge mode?

I am new to this forum, does any one know if the new firmware has fixed the AirPlay issues. I have 2 ac-66u configured in bridge mode, the secondary router is connected to an Apple TV and I can't use AirPlay on it.

thx.

 

[PrivateJoker]

I am new to this forum, does any one know if the new firmware has fixed the AirPlay issues. I have 2 ac-66u configured in bridge mode, the secondary router is connected to an Apple TV and I can't use AirPlay on it.

thx.

I'm in .34 on an RT-N66 w/ no AirPlay issues, and though I do use bridges behind my AirPlay devices no Bridges as Asus does them. Do your devices see the ATV when you plug it into the main router or connect it via wifi?

 

[u111000111]

I can see the ATV without issue when it is plugged into the primary router but it will be a pain to leave it this way .. There seems to be a known issue regarding this ( see here ) : https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/issues/164

I have AirPlay working by following the directions in the previous link, but I ran into another issue where my PS3 now can't connect to the internet ( but can connect fine to my internal network using the wired connection). I have to use wifi for any devices that are attached to the secondary router.

The PS3's IP is now set to the 169.xxx.xxx.xxx address same applies to any other device that is connected by ethernet to the secondary router. I can mitigate this somewhat by manually assigning the IP address but something is definitely broken and I am at a loss on what to do now ..

I am not sure if the igmp proxy hack I used is to blame or it is another separate issue.

The internet connectivity issue happened recently and I don't remember if I might have inadvertently messed up something ..

I can reset the current FW to stock and then re-apply the igmp work around, but I don't know if that will also alleviate the internet connectivity issue ..

thx

 

[jlake]

I am new to this forum, does any one know if the new firmware has fixed the AirPlay issues. I have 2 ac-66u configured in bridge mode, the secondary router is connected to an Apple TV and I can't use AirPlay on it.

thx.

Do you have an rt-n66u? This thread is for rt-n66u.

 

[RMerlin]

Do you have an rt-n66u? This thread is for rt-n66u.

The routing behaviour should be identical to both models tho, as this isn't related to wireless itself, so it could be the same issue in both cases.

 

[u111000111]

my bad .. wrong forum ..